3D object creation system comprising a plurality of layer groups and fault detection system

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional object creation system is provided. The system comprises: (i) a first printhead layer group comprising a plurality of first printheads configured for printing a first layer of the object; (ii) a second printhead layer group comprising a plurality of second printheads configured for printing a second layer on the first layer, the second layer group being downstream of the first layer group; (iii) a conveyor for conveying a partially-formed object past the layer groups; (iv) a fault-detection system for detecting a malfunctioning layer group; and (iv) a control system for dynamically reconfiguring at least one second printhead to print at least part of the first layer in the event that the first layer group is malfunctioning.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/753,439 filed on Jan. 9, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,236, all ofwhich is herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to the creation of objects using digital additivemanufacturing and more particularly to creating working objects that maybe electrically and/or mechanically active.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with thepresent application:

10/753419 10/753389 10/753390 10/753486 10/753475 10/753499 699769810/753332 10/753643 10/753440 10/753487

The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated hereinby cross-reference.

BACKGROUND

Digital additive manufacturing is a process by which an object isdefined three dimensionally by a series of volume elements (hereinafterreferred to as voxels). The object is then produced by creating/layingdown each voxel one at a time, in rows at a time, swaths at a time orlayers at a time.

There exists systems that use modified inkjet type technology to ‘print’material onto a substrate, so building the object. However, thesesystems typically utilize a single scanning printhead and are onlyuseful for producing non-working models.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In the present invention we digitally define objects as a series ofvoxels and have a production line that creates objects by creating eachvoxel. The production line simultaneously creates different portions ofobjects with each portion produced by a separate subsystem. In thepreferred embodiments each portion is for different products and so thesystem builds up multiple objects simultaneously. The finished objectsmay be of identical or of different designs. The portions may be of anyshape that may be digitally described. Portions produced by differentsubsystems may have different shapes.

In the preferred embodiments each and every voxel has the samedimension. However, a product may be defined by voxels of more than onesize.

The portions are preferably created or laid down onto one or moresubstrates. In the preferred embodiments one or more substrates areprovided, each having a substantially planar surface upon which materialis deposited. Each of the surfaces preferably moves in it's own planepast the subsystems but does not otherwise move relative to thesubsystems. Each substrate need not have a planar surface upon whichmaterial is deposited and the surface may be of any shape desired. Thesubstrate may move past the subsystems at a constant velocity along apath or may move in steps. The substrate may also be caused to rotateabout one or more axes, as it moves between subsystems, as it moves pastsubsystems, as it is stationary or in combinations of these. In thepreferred embodiments a continuous substrate moves past the subsystemsof the production line at a substantially constant velocity.

The portions of the object produced by successive subsystems preferablylie on top of each other but could be spaced apart from each other,positioned end on end, adjacent to each other or in any otherconfiguration. As an example, a substrate having a cylindrical surfacemay be caused to rotate about its axis as it moves past a subsystem, sothat material deposited extends in a helix on the cylindrical surface.

The portions are preferably layers of the object and the layers arepreferably two dimensional, i.e. they lie in a flat plane. However, thelayers need not be planar. The layers may have a constant thickness.Layers having differing thickness within the one layer are within thescope of the invention. Similarly objects may be made with multiplelayers that do not have the same thickness characteristics.

In the preferred embodiments each layer is planar, is made up of voxelsof constant size and all layers have the same dimensions. Alternatelayers may be offset relative to each other. Preferably alternate layersare offset by half a voxel in one or both of two mutually orthogonaldirections.

Because voids may be formed in the object, when we refer to a ‘layer’ wemean a layer as defined, which may include voids, not a continuous layerof material or materials.

In preferred embodiments each layer is created by one or moreprintheads. In the preferred embodiments the printheads are arrangedalong a longitudinally extending production line and one or moresubstrates move past the printheads, and apart from the first layer, theprintheads print onto a previously printed layer of material(s). Theprintheads for all layers operate simultaneously and so whilst the firstprinthead is printing a first layer of a first set of one or moreproducts, the second printhead is printing a second layer of a secondset of one or more products and the third printhead is printing a thirdlayer of a third set. Thus if we have a product 1000 layers high we have1000 different subsystems, one for each layer. These 1000 subsystemsoperate to simultaneously produce 1000 different layers of 1000 sets ofproducts.

In the preferred embodiments the printheads extend across the width ofthe substrate and are capable of printing across the full substratewidth simultaneously i.e. they do not scan or raster when printing butare stationary. This enables a substrate to be moved past the printheadsat a substantially constant speed, with the printheads printing rows ofmaterial onto the substrate. The substrate speed is matched to the rowwidth and printhead cycle time so that the substrate has moved the widthof the rows printed for each printhead cycle. Thus the next row or rowsprinted by each printhead will be printed next to a previously printedrow or rows. In the preferred embodiments the printheads each print tworows simultaneously for increased substrate speed.

Whilst substrate width printheads are preferred, scanning typeprintheads may be utilized to simultaneously produce multiple layers ofobjects.

The terms “printhead”, “print” and derivatives thereof are to beunderstood to include any device or technique that deposits or createsmaterial on a surface in a controlled manner.

Each layer is printed by one or more printheads. We refer to theprinthead or printheads for a layer as a ‘layer group’. As used in thedescription and claims it is to be understood that a layer group mayhave only one printhead that prints one material and the use of “group”is not to be taken to require multiple printheads and/or multiplematerials.

Whilst the layer groups may have multiple printheads, each layer grouppreferably prints only one layer at any one time, which may be made ofone material or multiple materials. The number of printheads in eachlayer is usually determined by the number of materials to be printed. Inthe preferred embodiments each material is printed by a separateprinthead and any additional printheads are only to enable a singlelayer to have multiple materials within it. This is because thematerials being printed have a relatively high viscosity compared towater based inks and so require large supply channels. Thus in thedescription it is assumed that each printhead only prints one material.Thus if the system is capable of printing N different materials, at oneprinthead per material, this requires N printheads per layer. However,this is not to preclude printheads that print multiple materials.

However, because each printhead could print more than one material ormultiple printheads could print the same material, there does not haveto be a one to one ratio between the number of printheads and the numberof different materials. It is not critical that all the layer groups areidentical, and in some embodiments it is desirable that different layergroups print different numbers of materials or different combinations ofmaterials.

It will be appreciated that for production efficiency more than oneprinthead in a layer group may print the same material. Where the refillrate of the printheads for different materials is substantially thesame, speed increases can only be achieved when all materials have thesame number of printheads. However if one material requires a muchlonger refill time, provision of two or more printheads for thatmaterial alone may allow increased substrate speed.

When different materials are printed, they may need to be printed atdifferent temperatures and so in preferred embodiments the printheads ofa layer group may be maintained at different temperatures.

Even if only one material is used there are advantages in printingmaterial compared to molding. For example, it is possible to createvoids in the finished product. The voids may be of any complexity thatmay be digitally described. Thus, any pattern of dots may be missingfrom the object created.

The number of separate products that may be printed simultaneouslydepends on the printhead width, the product size across the substrate,the product size along the substrate and the longitudinal spacingbetween products.

The preferred systems are capable of printing most materials that arerequired but there are circumstances where a discrete object may beincorporated into products. Examples of such discrete objects includesemiconductor microchips, which can be manufactured in more appropriatematerials and in much smaller feature sizes than in the current systemsof the invention. For semiconductor devices, the device speed isdependant on feature size and materials used. Whilst preferredembodiments of the invention can produce organic semiconductors, theseare relatively slow compared to conventional inorganic semiconductors.Thus, for example, where a high speed integrated circuit is required,insertion of a separately manufactured integrated circuit chip will beappropriate, as opposed to printing a low speed circuit. Mechanicallyactive objects may also be inserted where printing cannot satisfactorilyproduce them. In embodiments that create three dimensional products, theprinting process may create the cavities into which such discretedevices may be inserted.

The material(s) printed by the printheads may be hot melts. Typicalviscosities are about 10 centipoise. The materials that may be printedinclude various polymers and metals or metal alloys. It is thus possibleto print wires, in both two and three dimensions in products. Thematerial solidifies to a solid, either by freezing or by otherprocessing to form solid voxels. As used in the description and claimsthe terms cured, curing or derivatives are to be understood to includeany process that transforms material or materials in one state to thesame or different material or materials in a solid state. Differentmaterials may require different curing techniques or curing conditions.

The preferred printhead is a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) typeprinthead in which a material is ejected from a chamber under thecontrol of a movable element. Reference is made to the following patentspecifications that disclose numerous such MEMS type printheads orprinthead components:

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Such MEMS type printheads may utilize different ejection mechanisms fordifferent ejectable materials while other MEMS printheads may utilizedifferent movable shutters to allow different materials to be ejectedunder oscillating pressure. It is to be understood that whilst MEMS typeprintheads are preferred, other types of printhead may be used, such asthermal inkjet printheads or piezoelectric printheads.

The aforementioned patents disclose printhead systems for printing ink,but it will be appreciated that the systems disclosed may be modified toprint other materials.

In the preferred embodiments the data for each layer is stored in memoryon or in or associated with the layer group that prints that layer.Preferably each layer group also stores data relating to at least thepreceding layer. Thus if an earlier layer group fails, successive layergroups can all, synchronously, change to printing the respectivepreceding layer.

Preferably, after such a change in which layer(s) a layer group orgroups are printing, the system may automatically transfer layer datafrom one layer group to another so as to restore the layer groups tohaving data relating to at least the preceding layer compared to theactual layer being printed.

In the preferred embodiments each voxel has dimensions in the order of10 microns, each layer of the products is about 10 microns high and in atypical system we have about 1000 separate sub-systems, each creating aseparate layer of separate items. Thus products up to about 1 cm highmay be created on a typical production line of the preferredembodiments.

Each printhead nozzle ejects a droplet that forms, when frozen, dried orcured, a volume element (Voxel) that is approximately 10 microns high.The printheads typically print up to about 30 cm in width and so printup to about 30,000 droplets in each line across the substrate. In thepreferred embodiments the voxels are treated as being hexagonal in planview with an effective height of about 10 microns.

If we have a system with 1000 layer groups, each of which is capable ofprinting 30,000 voxels transversely and 60,000 voxels longitudinally, wehave a volume of 1800,000,000,000 voxels. Within that volume we candefine as many or as few different products as we desire that will fitin that volume. Where multiple products are defined within that volume,their design need not be the same. We could, for example, define 1000products within the volume, each with its own different design. Productsmay be located transversely, longitudinally and vertically relative toother products. Thus products may be created on top of each other, notjust side by side or end on end.

The preferred embodiments have a print width of about 295 mm, asubstrate speed of about 208 mm and an ability to print about 1000layers, each of which is about 10 microns thick. Thus the preferredembodiments are able to print products that have a thickness up to about1 cm and one of the height and width no more than 295 mm. The other ofthe height and width may be up to about 600 mm. As will be explainedlater, this dimension is limited by memory considerations.

Product Samples

Examples of products that may be manufactured using embodiments of theinvention include small electronic devices, such as personal digitalassistants, calculators through to relatively large objects, such asflat panel display units. The productivity of a production line isexemplified by the following examples.

Personal Digital Assistant

An example product that may be produced by a system of the presentinvention is a personal digital assistant (PDA) such as those made byPalm Inc of Milpitas, Calif. USA. A typical PDA has dimensions of 115mm×80 mm×10 mm (H×W×D). Using hexagonal voxels 10 microns high and witha side length of 6 microns, a total of about 98 billion voxels arerequired to define each product. This requires approximately 98 Gbytesof data, if we assume that eight different materials are used in theproduct.

At a substrate speed of 208 mm per second a typical production line canproduce approximately 4.32 products per second, 373151 products per dayor 136 million products per year, assuming the system runs continuously.Whilst this is greater than the current market for such products, thesystem has the potential to substantially reduce the cost of theseproducts and so increase the market.

Whilst the system may print polymer transistors and displays, these havelower performance than silicon based transistors and displays. However,as discussed elsewhere, the system is designed to allow incorporation ofmade up components into partially printed objects in the productionline.

Flat Panel TV

A flat panel TV of 53 cm diagonal size is generally the largest objectthat can be printed in the typical system. Of course to print widerobjects, wider printheads may be utilized. For longer objects, morememory is required and for thicker objects the voxel height maybeincreased or more layers printed by providing more layer groups. Whilstthe printheads have the ability to vary the droplet size slightly,generally if a larger voxel size were required, different printheadswould be required. Of course increased voxel size results in a higher‘roughness’ of the finished product. However, depending on the product,this may be commercially acceptable.

A typical 53 cm flat panel TV has dimension of 450 mm×290 mm×10 mm(H×W×D). Using hexagonal voxels 10 microns high and with a side lengthof 6 microns, a total of about 1395 billion voxels are required todefine each product. This requires approximately 1395 Gbytes of data, ifwe assume that eight different materials are used in the product.

At a substrate speed of 208 mm per second a typical production line canproduce approximately 0.37 products per second (²⁰⁸/450=0.46), 31890products per day or 12 million products per year, assuming the systemruns continuously.

The complexity that may be defined by over 1 terabyte of data is muchgreater than required by a typical flat panel TV and the amount offunctionality that can be built-in could be very great. There are veryfew discrete objects that would need to be incorporated into thepart-printed product.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the invention thus has manyembodiments and accordingly has many broad forms.

In a first broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system printingat least part of each of multiple layers simultaneously.

In a second broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system printingat least part of each of multiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   wherein each layer is defined by a plurality of voxels arranged        in a regular array and wherein the voxels of each layer are        printed so as to be offset by half a voxel relative to the        voxels of adjacent layers in a first direction, a second        direction perpendicular to the first direct ion or both the        first and second directions.

In a third broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system includinga plurality of printheads, the system printing at least part of each ofmultiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   wherein the printheads are configured to enable printing of at        least two different materials in at least one layer.

In a fourth broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system includinga plurality of printheads, the system printing at least part of each ofmultiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   wherein the printheads are configured such that at least one of        the layers may be printed with a first set of materials and at        least one other of the layers may be printed with a second set        of materials, and    -   wherein the first and second sets are not the same.

Preferably more than 100 layers are printed simultaneously and morepreferably about 1000 layers are printed simultaneously.

Preferably pluralities of objects are simultaneously printed.

When completed, the objects may have substantially identical designs.

Preferably each of the layers that are at least partially printedsimultaneously is for at least one different object.

Each printhead may print part or all of a predetermined layer.

Multiple layers of the same material may be printed

Multiple materials may be incorporated in each layer.

Preferably the printheads are inkjet printheads and more preferably theprintheads are fixed inkjet printheads able to simultaneously print thewidth of the objects.

Droplets of material printed may be printed in a hexagonal close-packconfiguration or a face centered cubic configuration.

In a fifth broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system includinga plurality of printheads, the system printing at least part of each ofmultiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   the system configured to enable at least one first printhead        that is initially configured to print at least part of a first        layer to be dynamically reconfigured to print at least part of a        second layer.

Preferably the at least one first printhead is dynamically reconfiguredif at least one of the at least one printhead initially configured toprint the second layer fails.

Preferably if a printhead initially configured to print the second layerfails whilst printing the second layer, the at least one first printheadis reconfigured to complete the printing of at least part of said secondlayer.

In a sixth broad form the invention provides a three dimensional objectcreation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system includinga plurality of printheads, the system printing at least part of each ofmultiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   the system configured to enable at least one first printhead        that is initially configured to print at least part of a first        layer to be dynamically reconfigured to print at least part of a        second layer, and    -   wherein if at least one printhead initially configured to print        the second layer fails whilst printing said second layer, said        at least one first printhead is dynamically reconfigured to        complete the printing of at least part of said second layer.

Preferably the reconfiguration is made with no loss of printed product.

Preferably the system includes a fault detection system thatautomatically detects faults in said system and reconfigures said atleast one first printhead in the event of a failure.

In a seventh broad form the invention provides a three dimensionalobject creation system that prints objects layer by layer, the systemincluding a plurality of printheads, the system printing at least partof each of multiple layers simultaneously,

-   -   the system including semiconductor memory and    -   wherein data defining at least one layer is stored in the        semiconductor memory.

Preferably the data defining all of the layers is stored in thesemiconductor memory.

Preferably each printhead includes at least some of the semiconductormemory and more preferably the semiconductor memory of each printheadstores data relating to at least the part of the layer printed by theprinthead.

Preferably the semiconductor memory of each printhead stores datarelating to at least part of at least another layer and more preferablythe semiconductor memory of each printhead stores data relating to atleast part of the previous layer compared to the layer currently beingprinted by the respective printhead.

The system may include more than 10 Gbytes of semiconductor memory.

In a eighth broad form the invention provides a system that executes aprocess, the system including a plurality of subsystems, each of whichperforms a stage of the process,

-   -   each of the subsystems configured to perform one of a first        subset of N₁ of the stages, where N is greater than 1, and to        change the stage of the subset being performed on receipt of a        change instruction;    -   wherein, in the event that one of the subsystems fails, at least        one of the remaining subsystems synchronously changes to        performing the respective stage of the failed subsystem without        requiring transfer of data relating the respective stage to the        said at least one remaining subsystems, and    -   when a subsystem changes to performing a different stage, the        system reconfigures the subsystem to be capable of performing a        second subset N₂ of the stages where N₁ and N₂ have the same        number of stages.

The system may be a pipelined system in which each stage is dependent onthe successful completion of all previous stages.

Preferably another subsystem is instructed to perform the stagepreviously carried out by the first subsystem.

The reconfiguration may occur by way of replacement of a component or,in preferred forms, by way of data transfer.

Preferably each stage is defined by a data set and each subsystem storesa plurality of data sets. When performing a stage the subsystem accessesthe corresponding data set. To change the stage being performed, thesubsystem merely changes the data set being accessed. Preferably when asubsystem changes the stage being performed, the data set relating tothe stage previously being performed is replaced by data relating to astage not already in that subsystem's memory.

In preferred systems, when a subsystem fails, all subsequent subsystemsin the process change the stage being performed and, whenreconfiguration involves a transfer of data, preferably this occurs as apipelined data transfer.

In a ninth broad form the invention provides a printing system includinga least two printheads, wherein a first printhead is actively maintainedat a first temperature and a second printhead is actively maintained ata second temperature.

Preferably the system is a three dimensional object creation system thatprints objects layer by layer, the system including a plurality ofprintheads, the system printing at least part of each of multiple layerssimultaneously.

Preferably the first printheads is configured to eject a metal and thefirst temperature is above the melting point of the metal.

In a tenth broad form the invention provides a printing system includinga least two printheads, a first one of the printheads printing a firstmaterial and a second one of the printheads printing a second material,the first material being cured by a first method and the second materialbeing cured by a second method and wherein the first and second methodsare different.

The first and second methods may include at least one method selectedfrom a group including: evaporative drying; freezing of material ejectedwhen molten; ultra violet curing; addition of a curing agent.

The first and second methods may include printing of a curing agentsimultaneously or sequentially with the respective material.

The first and second methods may include printing of a curing agentselected from a group including: a catalyst; a polymerization initiator;a compound that reacts with the respective material.

The system may be a three dimensional object creation system that printsobjects layer by layer, the system printing at least part of each ofmultiple layers simultaneously.

In a eleventh broad form the invention provides a printing systemincluding

-   -   at least one printhead for printing material to create a printed        product, and    -   an object incorporation device that incorporates inorganic        semiconductors into the product being printed whilst the at        least one printhead prints the product.

The inorganic semiconductor may be an integrated circuit.

The inorganic semiconductor may comprises silicon.

The inorganic semiconductor may comprise a Group III-V semiconductor.

The inorganic semiconductor may comprises a discrete device.

The inorganic semiconductor may be selected from a group including:transistor; light-emitting diode; laser diode; diode or siliconcontrolled rectifiers (SCR).

The system may be a three dimensional object creation system and may bea three dimensional object creation system that prints objects layer bylayer, the system printing at least part of each of multiple layerssimultaneously.

In a twelfth broad form the invention provides a system that printsthree dimensional products, the system including

-   -   at least one object incorporation device that incorporates        non-printed objects into partially completed product, the        non-printed objects not being printed by the system.

The system may include at least one printhead for printing material tocreate a printed product and operate so that non-printed objects areincorporated into partially completed product whilst the at least oneprinthead prints the product.

Preferably the non-printed objects are incorporated into partiallycompleted product without stopping the printing process.

Preferably the non-printed objects are incorporated into the partiallycompleted product at a predetermined position and/or a predeterminedorientation on or in the product.

The system may print electrical connectors to electrically connect thenon-printed objects to other parts of the product.

The system may print at least part of each of multiple layerssimultaneously. More preferably the system simultaneously prints objectslayer by layer.

In a thirteenth broad form the invention provides a system that printsthree dimensional products, the system including

-   -   an object incorporation device that inserts non-printed objects        into a cavity created during the printing process, the object        incorporation device incorporating the non-printed object into        the cavity during the printing of the respective printed object.

Each cavity may be created with substantially the same height as thenon-printed object to be inserted into the respective cavity.

Each cavity may be sized so that after insertion of the object, the topof the non-printed object is substantially flush with the surroundingmaterial of the partially completed product.

Each cavity may be shaped to maintain at least one of the position andorientation of the non-printed object and preferably both.

The shape of each cavity may substantially match the shape of thenon-printed object.

The system may print at least part of each of multiple layerssimultaneously. More preferably the system simultaneously prints objectslayer by layer.

In a fourteenth broad form the invention provides a system that printsthree dimensional products, the system including

-   -   at least one printhead that prints electrical connections to at        least one object incorporated in the products.

Preferably the at least one object does not include a substrate.

A drop on demand printing subsystem preferably prints the electricalconnections.

The electrical connections are preferably printed with molten metal.

The system may print at least part of each of multiple layerssimultaneously. More preferably the system simultaneously printsproducts layer by layer.

It will be appreciated that the features of the various broad forms ofthe invention may combined together in any combination and are notlimited to any one specific broad form.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a production line according to afirst embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of a production line according to asecond embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows another schematic side view of the production line of FIG.2.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic side view of the production line according to athird embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic side view of a production line according to afourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic side view of a production line including anobject insertion device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a number of voxels of the preferredembodiments.

FIG. 8 shows a side view of the arrangement of layers of voxels producedby preferred embodiments.

FIGS. 9 a, b and c show plan views of an odd layer of voxels, an evenlayer of voxels and an odd and even layer of voxels.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing how each layer group stores data relatingto multiple layers of material in an initial printing configuration.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the situation when a first failure of alayer group has just occurred.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the logical arrangement of layer groupsafter a first failure of a layer group when the layer groups have beenremapped.

FIG. 13 shows the transfer of data after remapping of layer groups.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the situation when a second layer groupfails.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing remapping of layer groups after the secondfailure but before all data has been transferred.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the situation when a third failure occursbefore the data transfer relating to the second failure has completed.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the next actions to accommodate the secondand third failures.

FIG. 18 shows the next stage in the fault recovery process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

Basic Concept

FIG. 1 schematically shows a simplified production line 100 having manysubstrate width printheads 102. The printheads 102 print materials ontoa moving substrate 104, that is preferably moved at a substantiallyconstant speed in a flat plane, as indicated by arrow 106. Theprintheads 102 extend across the width of the substrate 104perpendicular to the direction of travel of the substrate and are,preferably, spaced along the substrate 104 with substantially constantseparations. However, as will be explained later, constant separation ofthe printheads is not critical.

The printheads 102 print one layer of an object onto the previouslyprinted layer. Thus the printhead 112 prints the first layer 110, thesecond printhead 108 prints a second layer 114 onto the first layer 110and the N^(th) printhead 116 prints an N^(th) layer 118 onto the(n−1)^(th) layer 119. For clarity only one printhead is shown for eachlayer but in practice there will be multiple printheads for each layer.

The layers are of a constant thickness and the printheads are controlledso that, in plan view, layers are printed on top of each other.

The distance from each of the printheads to the surface upon which theyprint is also preferably the same for all printheads. Thus the distance122 from the first printhead 112 to the substrate 104 is preferably thesame as the distance 124 from the seventh printhead 126 to the sixthlayer 128. This may be achieved by sequentially raising the printhead(s)for each layer by the voxel height. In this situation, droplets ejectedby printheads for different layers at exactly the same time will arriveat their destinations at the same time.

Voids

A product may be produced with voids and/or cavities. These voids may beutilized for location of separately created objects that are insertedinto the cavities during production. The cavities may also be providedas fluid passageways or for other purposes and remain ‘empty’ of printedor inserted materials in the finished product.

Cavities that have substantially vertical walls and a roof can only havethe roof printed where there exists solid material in the cavity. Wherean object is inserted, obviously the object provides the solid surfaceonto which roof material may be printed. Where the cavity is to be‘empty’ in the finished product, it is necessary to provide asacrificial material, such as wax, to provide a solid surface on whichthe roof material may be printed. The sacrificial material is thenremoved by further processing after the roof has been formed.

It will be appreciated that many cavity shapes do not require asacrificial material and the roof may be closed up gradually one layerat a time. Examples of such shapes include ovals and circles, polygonshaving an odd number of sides, and other shapes that do not have ahorizontal roof portion significantly greater than the voxel size.

FIG. 8 shows a product that has had a number of different cavities orvoids formed in various layers. A triangular cavity 830 has been formedthat spans 5 layers. As can be seen, printing successive layers with asmaller opening may close the cavity. The cavity 830 may extend as apassageway through the product and may extend vertically and/orlongitudinally, not just transversely. FIG. 8 also shows cavities 832,834 and 836 that are formed by not printing in a single layer. Cavity836 is shown partially completed and, in cross section has a diamondshape. When the fifth layer is completed, the cavity will be closed.

It will be appreciated that the drawing is not to scale and in practicecavities may extend for 10's of voxels in either the transverse orlongitudinal direction and may also extend for 10's of layers.

Multiple Materials

Whilst a system that only prints one material is within the scope of theinvention, to produce functional products made of many differentmaterials, the ability to print several different materials on a layeris required. In preferred embodiments this is achieved by providingmultiple printheads for each layer, with at least one printhead printinga different material compared to the other printheads provided for thatlayer.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is schematically shown a digital additivemanufacturing system 200 for simultaneously creating multiplemulti-material products, one layer at a time. For clarity somecomponents are omitted.

The products printed simultaneously may all be of an identical design ormay be of different designs, depending upon data supplied to theprintheads. Different designs of products may be printed side by sideand/or end on end or on top of each other. Products may be printed ontop of each other using sacrificial material(s) as separating layer(s).

The system 200 includes a conveyor or substrate 202 that is caused tomove at a substantially constant velocity as indicated by an arrow 204.The substrate 202 may be directly driven or may be located on a conveyorsystem, not shown. The substrate 202 preferably moves in a flat plane.Movement along a non-flat plane is also possible. A continuous substrateis preferred as this ensures a consistent velocity past all theprintheads. However because discrete objects are created, a series ofdiscrete carriers could be conveyed past the printheads.

Located above the substrate 202 and spaced apart form each other are aseries of “layer groups” 206 of printing devices. Each layer group 206includes m printheads 208, which extends transversely across thesubstrate 202 perpendicular to the direction of travel of the substrate.There may be more than one printhead in each layer group; for a typicalsystem there will be an average of around eight printheads in each layergroup. For clarity the drawings only show four printheads in each layergroup. There is no theoretical limit to the number of printheads in eachlayer group. In the embodiment of FIG. 2 the layer groups are identicalto each other.

The materials printed by the printheads may include different polymers,different colored polymers, metals, sacrificial materials such as wax,various evaporative drying materials and various two part compounds. Asuitable metal that may be used is indium, which has a melting point of156° C. Alloys of Indium and Gallium may be used, with melting pointsbelow 156° C. It will be appreciated that other metals or metal alloysmay be used. The ability to print metal enables high conductivityelectrical connections to be printed. Polymers having melting points inthe range of about 120° C. to 180° C. are preferred, but other polymersmay be used. Sacrificial waxes having a melting point of above 80° C.are preferred. Other compounds may be printed.

The layer groups 206 are spaced apart along the longitudinal directionin which the substrate 202 moves. The spacing of the layer groups 206from each other is preferably substantially constant but this is notessential. The layer groups 206 are spaced vertically from the substrate202 and this vertical separation preferably increases stepwise with eachlayer group in the longitudinal direction by β for each layer group.Thus, the m^(th) layer group will preferably be β(m−1) further away fromthe substrate 202 than the first layer group, where β is the increase invertical separation per layer group. The value of β is preferably atleast the voxel height α, approximately 10 microns. The step value maybe greater than the voxel height α but in most embodiments cannot beless than the voxel height. A value greater than α merely results in theprinthead to printing surface increasing. A value less than α may resultin products contacting the printheads unless the initial verticalspacing is sufficiently large. However, in practice the printhead tosurface distance is significantly less than the finished product height.So β needs to be the same or greater that the voxel height α. Theprintheads of each layer group are preferably the same distance from thesubstrate so that they may be synchronized to a single clock and sopreferably β is equal to α. Variations in vertical position ofindividual printheads in each layer group may be compensated for byadjusting when each of the printheads operate.

As the substrate 202 moves in the direction of arrow 204, all of thelayer groups operate simultaneously, so that each layer group lays downa single layer of material or materials of the products being created.By simultaneously we mean the printheads operate at substantially thesame time; we do not mean that the printheads eject material at exactlythe same time. In fact, because the printheads of a single layer groupare spaced along the path of travel, by necessity they must ejectmaterial at different times.

The first layer group 210 prints material directly onto the substrate202 to form a first layer 211. Thus as the substrate passes under thesecond layer group it will already have material printed by the firstlayer group. Thus the second layer group 212 prints a second layer ofthe object onto that first layer. In normal operation each layer groupprints a layer onto the layer printed by the previous layer group sothat the n^(th) layer group 214 prints an n^(th) layer 216 of theobject.

If the spacing of the layer groups along the substrate is constant and asingle type of object is being produced, the front edge of all theobjects being simultaneously created by the production line will passunder the first printhead of each layer group at the same time. If thedistances between the first printhead of each layer group and thesurface upon which material ejected by that printhead are substantiallyidentical, then the time that material spends traveling from theprinthead to the deposition surface is also the same between the layergroups. Thus, the layer groups may be synchronized to run off a singleclock without, in normal use, the need for delays in the clock cyclesbetween layer groups. As will be explained later, the system is designedto operate with variations with longitudinal spacing between adjacentoperating layer groups and constant longitudinal spacing or verticalrise is only preferred and is not always critical.

To maintain a substantially constant step height between layer groups,the printheads of the layer groups may be mounted directly or indirectlyon two longitudinally extending support beams. Assuming the beams aresubstantially straight, for a production line of 1000 layer groups,raising the downstream end of the beams 1 cm compared to the upstreamends will result in a step height for each layer group of 10 micron,assuming there is a constant spacing between the layer groups and thelayer groups are all the same size in the longitudinal direction. Wherethere are multiple printheads in a layer group the printheads may bemounted individually to the beams or may be mounted on a common carrierwith the carrier mounted on the beams. Mounting the printheads of eachlayer group on a common carrier allows the printheads to be more easilylocated substantially in a single plane. In use the plane is alsopreferably substantially parallel to the substrate. This allows theprintheads of a layer group to have a common printhead to printingsurface distance where the substrate moves on a plane. The use of acommon carrier also allows the printheads of a layer group to beassembled on the carrier away from the production line with thelongitudinal spacing between printheads accurately controlled. Locationof the printheads on the beams then merely requires accurate location ofthe carrier. Replacement of a failed layer group is also easier.

The multiple printheads of each layer group are for printing a singlelayer but they are spaced apart from each other. Referring to FIG. 2,material 218 printed by the m^(th) printhead 208 m may need to beprinted adjacent to material 220 printed by the first printhead 208 a ofa layer group. This is achieved by delaying printing of voxels by them^(th) printhead 208 m compared to those printed by the first printhead208 a. This time delay corresponds to the time the substrate 202 takesto move from the first printhead 208 a to the m^(th) printhead 208 m,i.e. the separation of the printheads divided by the speed of thesubstrate 202. Since both the substrate speed and the longitudinalseparation of printheads in a layer group may vary, the time delay isnot necessarily constant. This may be due to temperature variations,variations in location of printheads and other factors. Accordingly thesystem may include sensors that feed data such as temperature, substratespeed or printhead separation into the timing circuits.

Print Temperatures

Each of the different materials used may require different printingand/or post printing processing temperatures compared to thetemperatures required for the other materials. The actual printingtemperatures and post printing processing temperatures depend on thematerials used and so it is conceivable that a multi material productionline could run at one temperature, albeit unlikely. It also follows thatnot only must the materials used must be compatible with the othermaterials during printing, processing and in the finished product, butthat the printing and processing temperatures must be generallycompatible.

FIG. 3 shows the production line of FIG. 2 but indicating printtemperatures.

The printheads of each layer group 206 may print several differentmaterials, typically materials that are heated above their meltingpoints. Accordingly, one printhead may print indium metal at atemperature of 180° C. Sacrificial wax having a melting point of about80° C. or lower may be printed by another printhead to enable theformation of voids. If both indium and wax are printed, the evaporativetemperature of the wax will need to be below the melting point of indium(156° C.). If the evaporation temperature of the wax were above 156° C.,when the product is heated to evaporate the wax, the indium metal wouldmelt. Accordingly, a wax with an evaporative temperature below 156° C.(or the lowest melting point of all other materials used) must be used.The wax also cannot be heated to 180° C. for printing, as at thattemperature it is a vapor. Accordingly, the printhead printing the waxwill need to be at a temperature of about 80° C. whilst the indiumprinthead will need to be at about 180° C. Similar considerations applywhen printing materials that are printed in solution and the solventevaporates to “cure” the material. These materials may well be printedat room temperature.

FIG. 3 shows the first printhead of each layer group, such as printhead208 a, prints a first material M₁ at a temperature T₁. The secondprinthead of each group, such as printhead 208 b prints a secondmaterial M₂ at a temperature T₂, etc. The m^(th) printhead of eachgroup, such as printhead 208 m prints material M_(m) at temperatureT_(m). Some of the values of T₁ to T_(m) may be the same.

Whilst reference is made to the melting point of other materials, itwill be appreciated that some materials, either before or after printingor curing, may undergo undesirable temporary or permanent changes ifraised about certain temperatures. If so, the system needs to beconfigured to avoid subjecting those materials to temperatures above therelevant thresholds.

The temperatures of the materials printed and the temperature of theexposed layer needs to be maintained within ranges. The concept of theinvention hinges on voxels bonding to adjacent voxels to form a productof acceptable strength and durability. Thus, for instance, a droplet ofindium metal may be printed onto a voxel of indium metal or a plasticsmaterial. The droplet of indium will need to be heated to a temperaturesufficiently above its melting point so that it may melt part of theindium upon which it lands to forming a good mechanical and electricalbond. However, the indium should not be so hot that it melts too much ofthe material that it contacts or otherwise irreversibly changes thematerial that it contacts. It will be appreciated that the requirementsfor good bonding and avoiding damage to previously printed material canbe accommodated by adjusting the temperature of material being printedand the temperature of the material that has been printed, as well as byappropriate selection of materials.

Curing Methods

Different materials printed by the system may require a number ofdifferent curing techniques. Two or more materials usually share adrying/curing technique. FIG. 4 also schematically shows a number ofdifferent curing techniques.

Curing requirements include simple cooling to cause a material tosolidify, evaporative drying, precipitation reactions, catalyticreactions and curing using electromagnetic radiation, such as ultraviolet light.

The materials of each layer need to be cured to a sufficient degree tobe dimensionally stable before the materials of the next layer aredeposited. Preferably the materials are fully cured before the nextlayer is deposited but need not be. For example a material printed as ahot melt may have cooled to be sufficiently ‘solid’ to allow the nextlayer to be printed whilst not being fully solidified. Examples includematerials that do not have a specific melting point but solidify over atemperature range.

Curing may occur after all materials in a layer have been printed or mayoccur at different stages. Thus, in some embodiments, each layer groupmay include one or more mechanisms for effecting curing of the materialsprinted that are located between printheads of each group.

FIG. 4 shows two layer groups of n layer groups of a system 400. Thefirst layer group 402 has four printheads 402 a, b, c & d requiring twodifferent curing methods. The second layer group 404 has m printheadsprinting m materials requiring j different curing methods. Disposedwithin the printheads are curing mechanisms for carrying out appropriatecuring methods. The printheads are preferably arranged so that materialsrequiring the same curing method are grouped together upstream of asingle corresponding curing mechanism.

The materials 403 a, 403 b of printheads 402 a and 402 b require a firstcuring method and are located upstream of curing mechanism 406, whichcarries out curing of materials 1 and 2 as they pass underneath. Thematerials 403 c and 403 d printed by printheads 402 c and 402 d share asecond curing method and so are preferably grouped together upstream ofcuring mechanism 408. Thus the materials printed by printheads 3 and 4may be cured as they pass under curing mechanism 408.

Similarly, the second layer group 404 has materials that require threedifferent curing methods. Printheads 404 a and 404 b print materials 405a and 405 b that require curing by the first curing method and arelocated upstream of curing mechanism 410. The third and fourthprintheads 404 c and 404 d print third and fourth materials 405 c and405 d that are cured by curing mechanism 412. Finally, the fifth tom^(th) printheads print materials that require a j^(th) curing method,which is effected by the curing mechanism 414.

By grouping the printheads of materials that share common curingtechniques together, only a single curing mechanism for each curingmethod is required in each layer group. Whilst this is preferred, thereis nothing to prevent an arrangement where one curing method is carriedout by more than one curing mechanism in each layer.

It will be appreciated that curing methods may conflict and so the orderof printing within each layer group will require consideration to ensurea curing method does not adversely affect other materials alreadyprinted, whether cured or uncured.

In some circumstances all curing devices may be located between layergroups.

Examples of curing methods include, but are not limited to, thefollowing:

-   -   Evaporative drying.    -   Freezing of ejected material.    -   Ultra violet initiated curing using U.V. lamps.    -   Printing of reagents.    -   Printing of catalysts or polymerization initiators.        Evaporative Drying.

Evaporative drying may be assisted by passing a hot or dry (solventdepleted) gas over the material, applying a vacuum or low gas pressureto the material or by heating, such as by infrared radiation orcombinations of these. It will be appreciated that by ‘dry’ gas we meangas that has a relatively low partial vapor pressure of the relativesolvent, whether that solvent is water, alcohol, another organicsolvent, an inorganic solvent, etc.

Freezing of Ejected Material.

Freezing of ejected material that has been heated above its meltingpoint is applicable to metals, polymers and waxes. Cooling may rely onconduction and/or radiation of heat only or may be enhanced by blowingof cold gas over the layer or any other method of forced cooling tospeed heat removal. Since the preferred production line has of the orderof 1000 layer groups, conduction and radiation alone will not usuallyallow sufficient heat loss and so forced cooling will be required inmost situations. As each layer needs to be cooled, gas(es) will normallybe caused to move transversely across the objects. Cooling gases may beintroduced on one side of the system and caused to flow across theobject to the other side. Alternatively gas may be introduced above theobjects and caused to flow to both sides of the object. It will beappreciated that these are examples and other systems for gas flow maybe utilized. It will be understood that ‘cold’ is relative and the gasesused may be at or above ambient temperature.

Where gas is passed over the layer, either for evaporative drying or forfreezing, it will be appreciated that the gas will need to be compatiblewith the material or materials being cured. Where metals are printed,the metal droplets will, generally, need to fuse with adjacent metaldroplets, either in the same layer or in adjacent layers. As such aninert gas, such as nitrogen, will be needed for cooling so as to avoidoxidation.

In most circumstances material ejected as hot melt needs to be coolednot only below its freezing temperature but also to the freezingtemperature of all the materials printed. Potentially any of thematerials may be printed next to or on top of any other material. As anexample, indium metal may be printed in part of one layer and the nextlayer may have sacrificial wax printed onto the indium metal of theearlier layer. Whilst the indium could be cooled to about 150° C. to befrozen, this would be too high for a sacrificial wax with a meltingpoint of about 80° C. Thus, the indium would need to be cooled to below80° C. in this case before reaching the next layer group. In addition,sacrificial wax may be printed in the same layer and adjacent to indiummetal. In this case the indium metal would need to be cooled below themelting point of the wax before reaching the wax printhead of the samelayer group. It will be appreciated that a first voxel of material maybe heated by a nearby second voxel even though the two voxels are not inphysical contact with each other. Whilst wax has been used as an exampleof a material having a low melting point, it will be appreciated thatthe above discussion is applicable to all materials.

The effect of high temperatures is not limited to possible melting. Hightemperatures may also affect materials that are cured by other methods,such as evaporation, catalytic reactions or polymerization reactions.

It follows from the above discussion that, in most situations, materialsthat require a high processing temperature, whether due to being printedas a hot melt or due to post printing processing, will need to beprinted, processed and cooled to an acceptable temperature beforeprinting of potentially affected materials in the same layer, not justin the next layer.

Ultra Violet Initiated Curing Using U.V. Lamps.

Ultra violet curing may be used with U.V. cured polymers. To achieverapid curing high intensity U.V. lamps may be used. To avoid overheatingforced cooling by passing cooled gas may also be required.

Printing of Reagents and Catalysts or Polymerization Initiators.

Reagent printing includes printing of two part polymers or mixtures inwhich a precipitation reaction occurs. This may require specialprintheads to print the two compounds simultaneously or the use of two,preferably adjacent, printheads, that each print one of the compounds.Similarly, use of catalysts or polymerization initiators requiresprinting of the material and a catalyst or polymerization initiator.Thus, again, special ‘dual’ printheads or two printheads may be requiredfor each such material.

Where a solid material is produced by use of catalysts, polymerizationinitiators, two part polymers, precipitation reactions or othermechanisms that require two separate components to be printedseparately, the two components may be printed to the same location ormay be printed to adjacent locations with mixing occurring throughcontact of adjacent voxels. It will be appreciated that with two partcompounds, one of the compounds, such as a catalyst, may be required inmuch smaller qualities than the other compound.

It will appreciated that there may be cases where more than twoprecursors are printed to form one ‘finished’ material.

Printing of two or more different materials to the same location resultsin more homogeneous voxels of the end material, but requires greateraccuracy than printing to adjacent locations.

Reduced Capability

Whilst a production line having identical layer groups provides maximumflexibility, for many products this is not needed. For example, manyproducts have a plastic shell. Thus, for example, the first few hundredlayers may only require a single material forming the base of the shell.Thus the production line may dispense with printheads that areeffectively redundant, so reducing complexity, size and overall cost ofthe production line. Accordingly some of layer groups may have a reducednumber of printheads.

FIG. 5 shows the first nine layer groups 506 to 522 in a system 500having n layer groups.

The first four layer groups, 506 to 512, only have one printhead whilstthe fifth, sixth and seventh layer groups 514, 516 & 518 have twoprintheads each. The printheads of each pair print a different materialto that printed by the other printhead of the pair. The eighth layergroup 520 has four printheads, printing four different materials whilstthe ninth layer group 522 has two printheads, again printing twodifferent materials. It will be appreciated that the number ofprintheads in other layer groups does not necessarily dictate the numberof printheads in a layer group.

The materials printed by each multi-material capable layer group may bethe same or different from each other. Thus, for example, the fifth andsixth layer groups, 514 & 516, have printheads 514 a and 516 a thatprint material M₁ and printheads 514 b and 516 b that print a thirdmaterial M₃.

The seventh layer group 518 has a printhead 518 a that prints a secondmaterial M₂ and a printhead 518 b that prints an n^(th) material M_(n).Printheads 520 a, b, c & d of layer group 520 print materials M₁, M₂, M₃and M_(n), respectively.

Whilst FIG. 5 shows layer groups at the start of the production linehaving a reduced number of printheads compared to the maximum number ofmaterials printed, it will be appreciated that any layer group in theproduction line may be limited to printing less materials compared tothe maximum number of materials that are able to be printed by thesystem.

Insertion of Objects

At this stage, because the present minimum resolution is about 10micron, it is not possible for the system to print all requiredcomponents of a product. Some components may require finer resolution,such as high-speed semiconductors.

FIG. 6 schematically shows a production line 600 including a robot 602for insertion of objects into the products being printed. For claritythe vertical and horizontal scales are exaggerated.

The robot 602 has a supply 606 of objects 604 to be inserted. The robot602 takes one object at a time and accelerates the object 604horizontally to travel at the same speed as the conveyor. The object 604is then moved vertically to be inserted into a cavity 608 previouslyprinted in the product. The cavity 608 is a close fit for the object 604being inserted and alignment of the object with the cavity is preferablyachieved using vision systems. The cavity is preferably sized so thatthe top of the object does not protrude above the top layer of theobject.

Whilst the drawing shows a cavity five voxels high by nine voxels long,this is not to scale. Typically, objects to be inserted have dimensionsof the order of millimeters, not microns. A typical object may have asize of 5×5×1 mm (L×W×H) i.e. 5000×5000×1000 microns. Whilst a height of1 mm may seem small, the clearance between the top layer of the productand the printheads is typically also only about 1 mm. Thus, an objectplaced on the top layer rather than in a cavity may not clear downstreamprintheads. Additionally, if the object extends above the top layer,this may cause unpredictable airflows and cause unintended displacementof drops subsequently printed. By inserting, the object into a cavityhaving a depth at least as great as the object's height, the highestpoint of the object is flush or below with the top of the product and sodoes not cause any unexpected results.

Preferably the cavity is sized so that the object is securely andcorrectly located in the cavity. Placing the object in a cavity alsoreduces the risk that the object may be moved unintentionally, which mayoccur if it were placed on the top surface. The outline of the cavitypreferably matches the object. Thus, preferably, a rectangular objectwill be received in a rectangular cavity. However, it will beappreciated that this is not essential. The object may be received in acavity that holds the object in position but does not have a shape thatmatches the object's shape. For example, a rectangular object could belocated in a triangular cavity, so providing free space about theobject. The cavity may be shaped and configured to provide one or morechannels or passageways to other locations within the product or to theoutside of the product. Thus, for instance, a semiconductor chip may belocated in the product and provided with one or more cooling channels,ducts or passageways that extend to the outside of the finished product.

Key types of objects to be inserted typically include integratedcircuits such as main processors, memory etc. Whilst it is possible touse package chips it is better to use bare dies for cost, size andweight reasons. Preferably known good dies (KGD's) are used.Semiconductor that may be inserted include but are not limited totransistors; light-emitting diodes; laser diodes; diodes or SCR.

As mentioned previously, one of the materials that may be printed isindium. Another material that may be printed is an insulator, andaccordingly it is possible to print insulated electrical ‘wires’ 610,612 & 614 in the product. This may be carried out both before or afterinsertion of the device into the cavity. Whilst the drawing is not toscale, the electrical wires may have a thickness of 10 to 20 microns,i.e. one or two voxels. Wires may be placed in the order of 30 micronsfrom each other and so many millions of wires may be printed inrelatively small volumes.

Where electrically active devices are inserted, the devices arepreferably inserted with the bond pads 616 facing upwards as this makesthe forming of good quality electrical connections much easier. Withupward facing bond pads, electrical connections may be formed in thenext few layers to be printed. In contrast, bond pads on the bottom orsides of the object will rely on correct placement of the object andgood contact.

The device to be inserted may be cleaned by the insertion robot and theprinting may occur in a nitrogen atmosphere, or a partial or highvacuum. The bond pads may be plated with indium metal such that whenindium is printed onto the bond pads the indium on the bond pad meltsforming a good electrical connection.

Once the device has been inserted, downstream layer groups may thenprint electrical connections. FIG. 6 schematically shows four downstreamlayers part-printed on the object and showing three electricalconnections 610, 612 & 614 printed in upper layers to join two objects604 a & 604 b together. It can also be seen in FIG. 6 that earlierlayers include metal voxels forming electrical wire 618.

The invention is not limited to insertion of electrical devices.Mechanical devices may also be inserted.

Typical System Characteristics

The following characteristics relate to the preferred embodiments thatutilize MEMS inkjet type printheads as referenced in the aforementionedspecifications.

Voxels

The building block of the printed object is a voxel. In the preferredembodiment planar layers are printed that have the same dimensions andvoxels all of the same dimensions. Most preferably the voxel centershave a hexagonal close pack arrangement.

In the preferred embodiments the voxels 710 have a side length 712 of 6microns, as shown in FIG. 7. The height of the voxels is nominally 10micron. This provides a resolution that is typically 10 times higherthan existing systems in each direction, giving a voxel densitytypically 1000 times greater than existing systems. A correspondingnozzle of a printhead prints each voxel and so the nozzles of theprintheads have corresponding spacing. One or more in rows of voxels 710are printed by each printhead, with each row extending across thesubstrate, ads indicated by arrow 716. Rows are printed side by sidealong the substrate, as indicated by arrow 718. The nozzle pitch 720 is9 micron, whilst the row spacing 722 is 10.392 microns

Each drop of liquid material printed may be treated as a sphere, whichin the typical system has a diameter of about 12 microns. When inposition and after becoming solid, each drop forms a voxel, with a shapeapproximating a hexagonal prism with a height of α, the layer height,which in a typical system is about 10 microns.

The voxels may be printed in a face centered cubic configuration or in ahexagonal close packed configuration.

These configurations have a number of advantages, including increasedresistance to crack propagation, smaller voids between drops, and lowerresistance of printed conductive lines. Other voxel configurations arepossible, with corresponding voxel shapes.

FIG. 8 shows a substrate 810 with a number of layers having been printedis shown. The voxels of even layers 811, 813, 815 and 818 are offsetlongitudinally by half the voxel spacing relative to the voxels of oddlayers 810, 812, 814 and 816. This results in the voxels having ahexagonal arrangement in side view. The number of printheads per layerdoes not affect the voxel configuration and for clarity only oneprinthead per layer group is shown.

To achieve the longitudinal offsetting of the voxels 820, the spacing ofthe printheads 822 in the longitudinal direction is preferably the samebetween all layer groups and is more preferably an integral number ofvoxels plus half a voxel. This separation is not critical and it ispossible to achieve this half voxel longitudinal offsetting of theprinted layers by adjusting when each printhead ejects ink or by acombination of physical offsetting and timing adjustment.

The preferred printhead utilizes two rows of nozzles to print a single“row” of voxels. The nozzles for odd drops or voxels are located in onerow and the nozzles for even drops or voxels are located in another,parallel, row. The two nozzle rows are spaced half a voxel aparttransverse to the row direction and are staggered half a voxel parallelto the row direction so that when printed a “row” of odd and even voxelsis not a straight line but a zigzag line. FIG. 9 a shows a single “row”901 shaded for clarity. If we assume the printed droplets assume ahexagonal shape in plan view, continuous printing of rows can result intotal tiling of the surface with drops. It will be appreciated thatother printhead configurations are possible. The main requirement isthat, when printed, the droplets can form a substantially continuouslayer.

FIGS. 9 a, b and c show how, in preferred embodiments, odd and evenlayers of materials are deposited relative to each other. For ease ofreference, a reference mark 900 is shown to indicate relative positions.Referring to FIG. 9 a, the odd layers 902 are all printed with no“offset”. All even layers 904 are printed with a constant offset,relative to the odd layers 902. The even layers are offset by half avoxel in the transverse direction, as shown by numeral 906 in FIG. 9 b.The even layers are also offset half a voxel in the longitudinaldirection, as shown by numeral 908 in FIG. 9 b. The resulting relativepositioning of an odd and even layer is shown in FIG. 9 c. This resultsin each voxel being offset half a voxel in both the x and y directions.Whilst it is preferred that offsetting occurs in both the longitudinaland transverse direction, it will be appreciated that the voxels may beoffset in only one of the longitudinal or transverse directions.

Transverse offsetting can be achieved by offsetting the printheads. Thusprintheads for odd layers can be offset half a voxel transverselyrelative to printheads for even layers.

Whilst it is preferred that the physical offsetting of the printheads inthe longitudinal and vertical direction is constant, variations in bothdirections can be adjusted for by adjusting when the individualprintheads eject ink relative to the others.

Printhead and Layer Group Construction

A typical system is preferably capable of producing objects having up toeight different materials and, accordingly, will preferably have eightprintheads per layer group.

Each printhead of a typical system has a printable width of 295 mm,although this may be more or less, as desired. Each printhead includessixteen printhead chips arranged end on end, with an effective length of18.4 mm. To increase printing speed each printhead preferably prints tworows of material simultaneously, thus requiring two rows of nozzles. Inaddition, two additional rows of nozzles are provided for redundancy.Accordingly, each printhead and printhead chip is provided with fourrows of nozzles.

Each printhead chip prints 2048 voxels per row and so each printheadchip has 8192 nozzles and each printhead has 131072 nozzles.

Where each layer group has eight separate printheads this requires 128printhead chips per group and so there are a total of 1,048,576 nozzlesper group.

With a layer height of 10 microns, a typical system requires 1000 layergroups to produce an object 1 cm high and so requires 8000 printheads,128000 printhead chips and provides 1,049 million nozzles.

Print Speed

The nozzle refill time of a typical printhead nozzle is about 100microseconds. With two rows of material printed simultaneously by eachprinthead, this provides a printed row rate of 20 kHz. At a row spacingof 10.392 micron in the longitudinal direction this allows a substratevelocity of 208 mm per second. Thus, for example, the system can producean object 30 cm long about every 1.5 seconds.

With a print width of 295 mm this provides a maximum print area of 61296 mm²/sec and a maximum print volume (at 10 micron voxel height) of612963 mm³/sec per layer, assuming no voids. For a 1000 layer systemthis is a total of 0.613 liter/sec. It will be appreciated that in amultiple material object, most layers will be made of differentmaterials. Thus, whilst the maximum volume rate will be this value, eachprinthead will not be printing at the maximum rate.

Memory

In the preferred embodiments we have a system that may require up toabout 98 Gbytes of data. Since we have all the layers of a definedproduct(s) being produced simultaneously, all of that data is beingaccessed effectively simultaneously. In addition, the data is being readrepetitively. Assuming a product size of about 450 mm longitudinally,each and every layer is printed about every 2½ seconds and so therelevant data needs to be accessed every 2½ seconds. For shorter layers,the data is read more frequently.

The quantity of data and the need to access the data simultaneously andcontinuously means that, with present technologies, it is not practicalto store the data in a central location and/or to use disk drives tostore the data that is accessed by the printheads. If disk drives wereused they would be used continuously and be a major risk of failure. Toprovide disk redundancy would also result in unnecessary complexity. Assolid state memory has no moving parts, its failure rate is much lower.Accordingly, in the preferred embodiments the data is stored in solidstate memory and this solid state memory is distributed across the layergroups of the system. Each layer group stores data relating to the layercurrently being printed by that layer group in memory located on or inthe layer group. Once the necessary data has been downloaded to thelayer groups, they do not need to access an external source of data,such as a central data store. By incorporating the memory in the layergroup, and more preferably in printheads or printhead chips, high speedaccess to the data for each and every layer group is readily provided“internally”. In the typical system each layer group normally prints onelayer repeatedly and so, at a minimum, only needs to access the data forone layer at any one time. In preferred embodiments each layer groupalso stores data relating to other layers, for fault tolerance, as willbe discussed later.

The memory used is preferably Dynamic Random access Memory (DRAM).Currently available DRAM provides sufficiently fast read access to meetthe requirements of the system. In the preferred embodiments this memoryis located on each printhead.

In the preferred systems each printhead is constructed of sixteenprinthead chips and those printhead chips each have 4096 active nozzles.Each printhead chip is provided with 256 Mbits of DRAM to define therelevant portion of the layer to be printed, or 64 Kbits per nozzle. Ifwe allow 2 Kbits to define the layer and the specific material we haveapproximately 62 Kbits for voxel locations per nozzle. Thus we canspecify up to about 63,000 (62×1024) locations longitudinally. With alongitudinal size of each voxel of 10.392 micron this equates to amaximum product length of about 660 mm. This does not allow forredundancy or other overheads that may reduce the available memory andso the maximum number of locations.

Thus, a printhead having 16 printhead chips has 4096 Mbits of DRAM andwith 8 single material printheads per layer group, each layer group has32,768 Mbits of DRAM. A production line having 1000 layers groups thushas 32,768,000 Mbits or 4096 Gbytes of DRAM. Whilst this is asignificant amount, the cost is relatively low compared to theproductivity possible with the system.

It will be appreciated that the total amount of memory provided isdependant on the total number of different materials used and themaximum size of objects to be produced. Whilst the transverse length ofthe printheads limits the size of objects in the transverse dimension,there is no limit on the size of objects in the longitudinal direction.The maximum size is limited by the memory provided which is also themaximum amount of memory required. When defining a voxel in the product,the material in the voxel and the layer in which it occurs needs to bespecified.

However, it is possible to dispense with this data at the printheadlevel. In the typical system each printhead only prints one material inonly one layer. If the printhead only stores data relating to voxelsthat it prints, the data specifying the layer and material is redundant.Thus, potentially, the amount of data stored per printhead may bereduced. However, as set out above, this saving is relativelynegligible.

Data Rate

Each printhead chip operates at 100 KHz, prints two rows of voxels eachof 2048 nozzles and so requires a data rate of 39 Mbits/second so (4096nozzles at 100 KHz). This is well within the capabilities of currentlyavailable DRAM. This results in data rates of 625 Mbits/second for eachprinthead, 5000 Mbits/sec for each layer and 5,000,000 Mbits/sec (or 625Gbytes/sec) for the entire production line. It is thus quite impracticalat present to have a central data store and to pipe the data to theindividual printheads. It will be appreciated that if futuredevelopments allow sufficiently high data transfer rates to bepracticable, one or more centralized data store(s) may be used as thesource of print data, rather than relying on distributed memory residingon the printheads or printhead chips themselves.

A central data store defining the products(s) is required but the datafrom that store only needs to be downloaded to the individual layergroups, printheads or printhead chips when the product(s) being producedchange, either totally or when modified. Whilst the system may requireof the order of 4096 Gbytes of memory in the layer groups, this transferdoes not need to be “instantaneous” as changes will be downloaded whenthe system is not operating.

Fault Tolerance

In a system with approximately 1000 layer groups, 8 printheads per layergroup, 16 printhead chips per printhead and 2048 nozzles per printheadchip, there will be about 1 billion nozzles. As such, it is expectedthat spontaneous failures will be a regular occurrence. It is notpracticable to stop the manufacturing process to replace failedprintheads, as this will require scrapping of all partially completedproducts on the conveyor. Thus, a 1000 layer manufacturing line may losethousands of products every time the system unexpectedly stops. Thenumber of products on the production line depends on product size,product spacing on the conveying system and the spacing of layer groups.Planned stoppages do not result in scrapping of product as each layergroup, commencing with the first, may be sequentially turned off to stopproducing products.

There are two primary levels of fault tolerance that aim to preventunexpected stoppages. One is within the printhead itself and one isbetween layer groups.

Printhead Fault Tolerance

Each printhead provides a level of fault tolerance. In the preferredembodiments in which stationary printheads are used, the printhead chipsare provided with redundant nozzle arrays. If a nozzle fails, acorresponding nozzle in one of the redundant nozzle array(s) may take upits function. However, since the printheads are fixed, each nozzleprints at the same transverse location and can only be replaced by oneor more specific redundant nozzle(s). In a printhead with one set ofredundant nozzles, each row location can only have one failure beforethe printhead becomes unable to correctly print material at alllocations. If a nozzle fails, the corresponding redundant nozzlereplaces it. If that ‘redundant’ nozzle then fails, it cannot bereplaced and so the entire printhead would be considered to have failed.Whilst the preferred embodiments only have one redundant nozzle for eachlocation, more than one set of redundant nozzles may be provided.

It will be appreciated that in a multi-material system each printheaddoes not necessarily print a full row. This depends on the product orproducts being printed. Thus many printheads will only utilize some ofthe printhead nozzles when producing products. The status of unusednozzles is not relevant to the ability to correctly print the currentproduct and so the printheads may be configured to determine from theproduct data relating to the layer being printed which nozzles need tobe tested both before printing and whilst printing is occurring.

For fault tolerance reasons, as discussed later, a printhead may need tokeep an inventory of failed but unused nozzles, as these nozzles may beneeded if the layer group needs to print another layer. Thus atinitialization, each printhead may test all nozzles independent ofproduct data. After determining if any nozzles have failed, thosenozzles may be mapped against the product data to determine if theprinthead should be mapped as failed or not. If a printhead isconsidered to have failed, then generally the entire layer group must beconsidered to have failed.

Layer Group Fault Response

The preferred system relies on each layer group carrying out testing ofitself and of the immediately upstream or downstream layer group.Testing results are passed to a central controller. A layer group willbe declared to have failed and will be automatically “mapped out” by thecentral controller if:

1). the layer group's self-test circuitry or external (to the layergroup) testing detects a fault that cannot be accommodated by onboardredundancy;

2). the immediately or downstream upstream layer group detects that thelayer group is not responding or not responding correctly tointerrogation, or

3). power fails to the layer group.

The above list is not exhaustive and other circumstances may require alayer group to be “mapped out”.

Failure of a layer group must not prevent communication between itsadjacent layer groups and so communication between any two layer groupsis not dependant on intermediate layer groups. The failure of a layergroup should also not cause failure in the product being printed by thatlayer group when it fails.

Referring to FIGS. 10 to 18 there are schematically shown a number oflayer groups of a system 1000 designed for producing products with up ton layers. Accordingly, the system 1000 has n active layer groups. Thesystem has a series of spare layer groups 1012, 1013 & 1014 that in‘normal’ use are not used. These ‘spare’ layer groups are locateddownstream of the n^(th) active layer group 1011. In the drawings, three‘spare’ layer groups are shown. It will be appreciated that the numberof spare layer groups may range from one upwards. In this system alllayer groups, including spare layer groups are functionally identical.

For the purposes of explanation it is assumed that there is notransverse offsetting of odd and even layer groups and that an odd layercan be printed by an ‘even’ layer group and vice versa.

Each layer group, as discussed elsewhere, has onboard memory that storesall the data necessary to define at least one layer. In the embodimentof FIGS. 10 to 18, each layer group has sufficient memory to store datafor three layers. For ease of explanation the drawings show each layergroup having three separate memory stores, represented by a separatesquare in the drawings, labeled a, b & c, each representing the memoryneeded to store the data for one layer. Of course in practice, thememory may be continuous.

Each layer group stores data for the layer that it is presently printingand for the two previous layers. Thus, layer group m stores data forlayer m, layer m−1 and layer m−2 in memory stores a, b and c,respectively. The data for each layer is represented in the drawings bythe code L_(n) in the memory squares, where n is the layer number. Thefirst layer group 1001 only stores data L₁ for the first layer, as ithas no upstream layer groups whilst the second layer group 1002 onlystores data L₁ & L₂ for the first and second layers. The indexes 1015above the boxes represent the layer being printed by each layer group.

The spare layer groups are physically identical to the other layergroups, but, as shown in the FIG. 10, only the first two spares 1012 and1013 are initially loaded with data. The first spare 1012 is initiallyloaded with data L_(n) and L_(n−1) relating to layers n and n−1 inmemory stores 1012 b and 1012 c. The second spare 1013 only has dataL_(n) for layer n, stored in memory store 1013 c whilst the third spare1014 and beyond, if any, initially have no data in memory.

The layer groups have data transfer links 1016 configured to enablelayer data in the memory of one layer group to be transferred to the twoimmediately adjacent active layer groups, i.e. an upstream and adownstream layer group. There may be one or more “inactive” layer groupsbetween active layer groups. Inactive layer groups are ignored by thesystem and the system is configured so that an inactive layer groupcannot affect operation of the system.

Typically an inactive group is one that has suffered a failure thatprevents it printing material as required. However, fully functionallayer groups may be mapped out as ‘inactive’ for other reasons.

Referring to FIG. 10 the initial configuration is shown and each layergroup prints the corresponding layer, i.e. the first layer group 1001prints layer one, the second layer group 1002 prints layer two, etc.

FIG. 11 shows the situation where the fifth layer group 1005 has beendetermined to have failed. The system maps out fifth layer group 1005and all layer groups downstream of layer group 1005 are instructed toprint an earlier layer. Thus, layer group 1006 is instructed to printlayer five, layer group 1007 is instructed to print layer six and then^(th) layer group is instructed to print layer n−1. This is achieved bysending an ‘advance’ signal 1018 to all the downstream layer groups,preferably via the data link 1016 when a layer group fails. The advancesignal is also propagated to the ‘spare’ layer groups and so spare layergroup 1012 is instructed to print layer n.

This is possible as there is sufficient time between failure beingdetected and the substrate moving from one layer group to the next layergroup and because each layer group already holds data defining anearlier layer. The time available to switch over is of the order of afew hundred milliseconds. Thus, the next layer group may finish off thepart completed layer printed by the upstream layer group. The layergroup 1004 now communicates directly with layer group 1006 and bypasseslayer group 1005, which is no longer active.

This switch over may be effectively instantaneous as all the layergroups already hold data defining the previous layer. Thus, even iflayer group five fails part way through printing its layer, layer groupsix may complete that layer as layer group six already holds datarelating to layer five. If there is sufficient gap between adjacentproducts, layer groups six onwards may complete printing of theirrespective layers before switching to an earlier layer. In thesecircumstances, layer group six would complete layer six on one product,complete the part completed layer five of the next product and thenprint layer five on subsequent products. Layer groups seven onwardswould complete their original layers and then switch to printing theearlier layers.

Referring to FIG. 12, layer group 1005 is now mapped out and alldownstream layer groups are ‘moved’ upstream one layer, i.e. layer group1006 becomes the fifth layer group, layer group 1007 becomes the sixthlayer group, layer group n becomes the (n−1)^(th) layer group and thefirst spare layer group 1012 is mapped as the n^(th) layer group.

At this time, each layer group downstream of the failed layer groupholds data relating to the layer it is now printing, the immediateupstream layer and the immediate downstream layer. Thus, layer group1006, now mapped as the fifth layer group, has data for layers four,five and six. The data for the immediate downstream layers is notrequired by any of the layer groups and so may be replaced.

Transfer of data between the layer groups now occurs via data link 1016,as shown in FIG. 13. The data L₆ in layer group 1006 relating to layersix is replaced with data L₃ relating to layer three. This data L₃ isobtained from the immediate upstream layer group 1004 via data link1016.

Simultaneously, layer group 1006 transfers data L₄ relating to layerfour to layer group 1007 to replace the now redundant data L₈ defininglayer eight. A similar transfer occurs simultaneously for all the layergroups downstream of the failed layer group, i.e. in an active layergroup previously mapped as layer group m+1 and now mapped as layer groupm, data relating to layer m+1 is replaced with data relating to layerm−2 from layer group m−1. The first spare 1012, now mapped as the n^(th)layer group, transfers data relating to layer n−1 to the second spare1013 and the third spare 1014, which originally held no data, receivesdata relating to layer n from layer group 1013.

Simultaneous transfer is possible because all the layer groups hold thenecessary data in memory. Whilst data for all n layers is transferredsubstantially simultaneously, the data link 1016 only carries data forone layer between adjacent layer groups. In addition, the switchover toaccommodate a failed layer group is not dependant on the completion ofthis data transfer. Thus, the capacity of the data link need not behigh.

Referring to FIGS. 14 & 15, assume layer group 1008, now mapped as theseventh layer group fails. A second ‘advance’ signal 1022 is sent to allactive layer groups downstream of layer group 1008 to cause them toprint the previous layer, as previously described i.e. layer group 1009synchronously takes over printing layer seven, the first spare 1012prints layer n−1 and the second spare 1013 prints layer n, with thethird spare 1014 still unused.

In the typical system approximately 10.6 Gbytes of data is required todefine all the voxels of each layer and the transfer of this amount ofdata takes some time. However, because each layer group holds datarelating to two upstream layers, a failure of a layer group that occurswhilst the data transfers occurring will not be fatal.

Referring to FIG. 16, assume that the transfer of layer data as a resultof the failure of layer group 1008 is still occurring when layer group1003 fails. Thus data transfer 1022 is still occurring. A third‘advance’ signal 1024 is generated and sent to all active layer groupsdownstream of layer group 1003. Layer groups 1004, 1006 and 1007, nowmapped as layer groups four, five and six are not in the process ofreplacing data in their memory and can synchronously commence printinglayers three, four and five respectively. Although mapped layer groupsseven to n are in the process of replacing data in one memory store,they also already hold in memory data for the immediate upstream layer.Thus, layer group 1009 already holds data relating to layer six; theeighth layer group holds data for layer seven, all the way through tothe third spare 1014, which holds data for layer n. Thus all thedownstream layer groups already hold the necessary data and so all mayshift to printing the upstream layer whilst the first data transfer 1022is still occurring and on receipt of only an advance signal. This isshown in FIG. 17.

An additional instruction is issued to replace the data in each layergroup m relating to layer m+1 with that relating to layer m−2.Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 17 layer group 1002 transfers data L₁relating to layer one to layer group 1004. Layer groups 1009 onwards,now mapped as layer groups six onwards, continue with the first datatransfer 1022, so that layer group data still populates one of itsmemory stores with data relating to earlier layers. The second datatransfer 1026 is commenced, preferably occurring simultaneously with thefirst transfer 1022, to transfer data relating to earlier layers.Depending on the capacity of the data link 1016, the second datatransfer may be delayed until the first transfer has completed. FIG. 18shows the layer data in the memory stores of the layer groups after thetwo data transfers have been completed.

Whilst the first data transfer is still occurring, layer groups 1009onwards do not hold a complete data set for an upstream layer. As such,if a fourth failure were to occur before the first data transfer iscompleted the system has no layer redundancy. However, as soon as thefirst data transfer is complete all of the layer groups will hold datarelating to the current layer being printed and the immediate upstreamlayer, so restoring data redundancy for one failure. When the seconddata transfer completes the system is restored to having redundancy fortwo failures.

The system can thus cope with two failures occurring in the time ittakes to transfer data relating to one layer between the layer groups.If greater fault tolerance is required, it is merely a matter ofproviding more memory in each layer group. A system in which each layergroup can store data relating to i layers will be able to continue evenif i−1 failures occur in the time to transfer one layer's data betweenlayer groups.

If the number of spare layers is greater than i, the number of sparelayer groups does not affect the number of “simultaneous” failures thatmay occur before data transfer has completed. However, the number ofspare layer groups does effect the cumulative number of failures thatmay be accommodated before the manufacturing line needs to be stopped ina controlled manner for replacement of failed printhead or layer groups.It will be appreciated that in practice the number of spare layer groupsmaybe much greater than three.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 10 to 18 all of the layer groups areidentical, with a series of identical spare layer groups at thedownstream end of the n^(th) layer group. Where a production line doesnot have all layer groups identical, it will be appreciated that the oneproduction line may be treated as a series of smaller logical productionlines placed end on end, in which the layer groups of each logicalproduction line are identical. In this situation, spare layer groups maybe located at the downstream end of each logical production line andbefore the start of the next logical production line. It will also beappreciated that a non-identical layer group may replace a layer group,so long as the replacement is capable of printing all of the materialsprinted by the failed layer group. As an example, layer groups that onlyprint one or two materials can be replaced by downstream layer groupsthat can print eight materials, so long as the eight materials includethe first two.

In the system described, all layer groups can print both odd and evenlayers. However, in some cases odd layer groups may not be able to printeven layers and even layer groups may not be able to print odd layers.An example of such a case is where voxels are arranged in a hexagonalclose pack arrangement and odd layer groups are physically offsettransversely relative to even layer groups.

In this case when a layer group fails, the next layer group would not beable to print the previous layer and need to be mapped out. Thus, forexample, if layer group five fails, both it and layer group six would bemapped out. Layer group seven would then print layer five and layergroup eight would then print layer six, and so on. Thus each failurewould require the use of two spare layer groups and so twice as manyspare layer groups would be required to provide the ability to cope withthe same number of failures. It follows that odd layer groups will storedata relating to odd layers and even layer groups will store datarelating to even layers. Thus layer group m will sore data relating tolayers m, m+2 and m+4. Apart from these differences, the system wouldfunction identically to that described.

As mentioned previously, a printhead may be able to successfully printmaterial for one layer despite having one or more failed but unusednozzles. However, one or more failed nozzles may be required forprinting of earlier layers. As each layer group has memory for multiplelayers, it is possible at initialization, or at other times, todetermine if the printhead is capable of printing all the layers held inmemory, not just the layer being printed. The layer group may then holda status flag for the other layers indicating whether it is capable ofprinting them.

If a failure occurs in another printhead that requires the layer groupto print a layer that it cannot, the layer group may be mapped out aswell. Effectively this would result in two simultaneous failures thatneeded to be accommodated. As such it may be desirable to increase thenumber of layers held in memory by each layer group.

It will be appreciated that this scenario has the potential to reducethe number of ‘failures’ and hence the number of spare layers requiredbut at the same expense of requiring more memory to provide the samelevel of simultaneous built in redundancy/fault tolerance.

Whilst the present invention has been described with reference tosemiconductor devices printing micron sized voxels, it is to beappreciated that the invention is not limited to the printing devicesdescribed or the voxel sizes described. Similarly, whilst preferredforms utilize about 1000 separate subsystems or layer groups, theinvention is not limited to systems having this many subsystems or layergroups.

Technologies currently exist that involve the (random) spraying ofmolten metal droplets onto a former to form a metallic structure (seeU.S. Pat. No. 6,420,954 for an example). It is within the scope of theinvention to print or otherwise deposit droplets of metals havingmelting points significantly above that of semiconductor materials andin much larger drop sizes, for the formation of ‘bulk’ objects.

Many metal objects are cast or otherwise formed to a ‘rough’ state. Therough casting is frequently then subject to various machining processesto arrive at the finished article. Printing of metal objects allowsfinished products to be produced without the need for such machining.

Preferred embodiments of the invention produce voxels of material thatare substantially the same size, independent of location or material.There is also a one to one relationship between voxels and ‘droplets’,i.e. each voxel is constructed of one cured ‘droplet’ of material.Depending on the product, certain portions may not need to be producedto the same fineness, such as the bulk layers of a casing. Accordinglythese may be formed of larger droplets of materials. Accordinglydifferent layer groups may have printheads printing the same materialsbut in different drop sizes to produce either ‘super size’ voxels ormultiple ‘standard’ size voxels.

1. A three-dimensional object creation system comprising: a firstprinthead layer group comprising a plurality of first printheadsconfigured for printing a first layer of said object; a second printheadlayer group comprising a plurality of second printheads configured forprinting a second layer on said first layer, said second layer groupbeing downstream of said first layer group; a conveyor for conveying apartially-formed object past said layer groups; a fault-detection systemfor detecting a malfunctioning layer group; and a control system fordynamically reconfiguring the second layer group to print at least partof the first layer in the event that the first layer group ismalfunctioning, wherein said layer groups are each positioned atdifferent heights relative to said conveyor.
 2. The object creationsystem of claim 1, wherein said printheads are configured to printsimultaneously such that a plurality of different layers are printedsimultaneously by said layer groups.
 3. The object creation system ofclaim 1, wherein each layer group communicates print data with anadjacent layer group.
 4. The object creation system of claim 3, whereineach layer group comprises a fault-detection system.
 5. The objectcreation system of claim 1, wherein printheads in the same layer groupprint the same material.
 6. The object creation system of claim 1,wherein printheads in the same layer group print different materials. 7.The object creation system of claim 1, wherein a height differencebetween each layer group and its adjacent layer group is constant. 8.The object creation system of claim 7, wherein the height difference isat least one volume element (voxel) height of the object.
 9. The objectcreation system of claim 1, wherein printheads within the same layergroup are positioned at the same height relative to said conveyor. 10.The object creation system of claim 1, wherein each layer is defined bya plurality of volume elements (voxels) of the object arranged in aregular array and wherein the voxels of each layer are printed so as tobe offset by half a voxel relative to the voxels of adjacent layers in aconveying direction and/or a direction perpendicular to the conveyingdirection.
 11. The object creation system of claim 1, further comprisinga robot for inserting pre-formed objects into the partially-formedobject during printing.
 12. The object creation system of claim 11,wherein the pre-formed object is an electrical or mechanical device. 13.The object creation system of claim 12, wherein at least one printheadprints electrical connections for the electrical device.
 14. The objectcreation system of claim 12, wherein said layer groups are configured tocreate one or more cavities in the partially-formed object, the or eachcavity being configured for receiving a pre-formed object from saidrobot.
 15. The object creation system of claim 11, wherein thepre-formed object is a semiconductor device.
 16. The object creationsystem of claim 1, wherein said printheads extend transversely acrosssaid conveyor relative to a conveying direction.
 17. The object creationsystem of claim 1, wherein said layer groups are spaced apart along theconveying direction of the conveyor.
 18. The object creation system ofclaim 1 comprising a plurality of further printhead layer groups.